Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Prophets' Tasks
Fussilat (Clearly Expounded) Sura 41: Verse 6

Say thou, [O Prophet:] "I am but a mortal like you. It has been revealed to me that your God is the One God: go, then, straight towards Him and seek His forgiveness!" And woe unto those who ascribe divinity to aught beside Him.

God has assigned His prophets and apostles tasks and responsibilities which they must carry out precisely as given. The Quran was revealed in order to clarify what these tasks are. It cites the examples of bygone religious communities whose perceptions of who their prophets were had become distorted, and warns against falling into the same errors into which they once fell. The Quran stresses the full humanity, and sinlessness, of all God's messengers with a clarification of the meaning of the miracles they performed. It emphasizes the finite nature of the prophets' human capacities, reminding its readers that whatever signs these messengers and prophets performed were the doing of God alone, Who has no partner, and Who granted them these miracles in order to confirm the truth of their messages.

Compiled From:
"Reviving The Balance: The Authority of the Qur'an and the Status of the Sunnah" - Taha Jabir Alalwani, p. 11

From Issue: 975 [Read original issue]

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Paradise Guaranteed

Imam Bukhari records in his Sahih that God's Messenger, peace be upon him, said: "Whoever guarantees to me what is between their lips and what is between their legs, I will guarantee them Paradise."

As speech is one of the greatest favours of God, we should use our tongues only for good and useful acts, such as reciting the Quran, praying, telling the truth, and enjoining good and forbidding evil. We should be modest and well-mannered in our speech, and not engage in lying, profanity, slander, gossip, and so on. Words should be chosen carefully, for, as Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Your word is dependent on you until you utter it; once you utter it, however, you are dependent on it."

Controlling one's sexual lust is very important for attaining human perfection and deserving Paradise. God has endowed us with many faculties and impulses so that we might evolve spiritually by restraining them and, channelling them into good deeds and virtues, attain higher spiritual ranks. By struggling to satisfy desires only in lawful ways, we can attain the rank of sainthood and gain superiority over angels.

Even though it seems at first sight to be too difficult to control our speeches and desires, it will engender great spiritual pleasure, for the pleasure of labour and struggle lies in labour and struggle themselves. Those who are successful will be deserving of Paradise.

Compiled From:
"The Messenger of God: Muhammad" - Fethullah Gulen, p. 110

From Issue: 581 [Read original issue]

Cool Concepts

The Camera Obscura

Like many eminent philosophers and mathematicians, Ibn al-Haitham was a keen observer. While in a room one day he noticed light coming through a small hole made in the window shutters. It fell onto the wall opposite and it was the half-moon shape of the sun's image during eclipses. From this he explained that light travelled in a straight line and when the rays were reflected off a bright subject they passed through the small hole and did not scatter but crossed and reformed as an upside-down image on a flat white surface parallel to the hole. he then established that the smaller the hole, the clearer the picture.

In later stages, his discoveries led to the invention of the camera obscura, and Ibn al-Haitham built the first camera, or camera obscura or pinhole camera, in history. He went on to explain that we see objects upright and not upside down, as the camera does, because of the connection of the optic nerve with the brain, which analyses and defines the image.

During his practical experiments, Ibn al-Haitham often used the term al-Bayt-al-Muthlim, which was translated into Latin as camera obscura, or dark, private or closed room or enclosed space. Camera is still used today, as is qamara in Arabic which still means a private or dark room.

Many of Ibn al-Haitham's works, especially his huge Book of Optics, were translated into Latin by the medieval scholar Gerard of Cremona. This had a profound impact on the 13th century big thinkers like Roger Bacon and Witelo, and even on the 15th century works of Leonardo da Vinci.

Compiled From:
"1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World" - Salim T S Al-Hassani, pp. 268, 269

From Issue: 624 [Read original issue]